Harper's First Trip to the Snow!

This weekend we took Harper to the snow for the first time. While dad was convinced it would only take us 30 minutes to pack, we spent 5 hours getting ready for our big family trip.  Harper did great on the long road trip and slept most of the way there.  We arrived late in the evening at our friend's beautiful Lake Tahoe home.  We hurried to get Harper's sleeping arrangements set up and prayed that she would find her new crib familiar with all of the blankets and stuffed animals we brought from home, and comfortable enough to fall asleep again.  It took a little longer than we thought, but she eventually went down for the evening.  We crept downstairs and had a couple glasses of wine to unwind from our hectic work week and long drive up, and then crawled into bed excited about our first day of skiing of the season.

No more than an hour of shut eye later and Harper started crying.  This was very strange because usually she is a great sleeper.  She has been sleeping through the night since she was 5 months old; what was going on?  We picked her up and soothed her back to sleep but she kept waking up and each time it got worse.  Her nose was getting increasingly stuffy and her breathing became labored until both of us were at the edge of the bed making sure she was o.k.  We hadn't lost this much sleep or been this scared since the very first night we brought her home from the hospital.  At 3:30 in the morning we debated to get back into our car and head out to the drugstore to buy a bulb syringe for her nose, or go to the emergency room....were we just being paranoid?  We weren't even really sure where we were, let alone how to get to the hospital and it hadn't stopped snowing since we arrived.  We decided it would be safest to take shifts watching Harper and holding her upright to help her breathe easier and comfort her so that she could sleep.  It seemed like the longest night of our lives.

Once the sun rose, the plans we had for the day changed.  Dad helped mom get Harper ready and figure out where the nearest after hours clinic was.  After we mapped out where we were headed, dad hit the slopes and the girls headed to see the doctor.  One hour in the waiting room, 3 nurses and 3 pharmacies later it was determined that Harper had croup (a serious and sometimes fatal chest cold that effects babies) and needed steroids in order to take down the inflammation in her airways so that she could breathe.  All the while, she had barely slept, missed her morning nap and couldn't get comfortable.....a mother's worst nightmare.  Once we gave Harper the medicine she needed, she conked out for the afternoon and got some much needed rest.  Perfect timing for mom to sneak in a half day of skiing.

The snow was perfect and the weather couldn't have been better.  We had a great time despite how tired we were and really enjoyed our first tracks of the season.  That night we gave Harper a steam shower and let her breathe in the cold mountain air (doctor's orders).  We had a delicious dinner and cozied up to the fire for our last night in the cabin.  We all slept much better that night and headed home in the morning.